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Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Don’t forget that in Chicago, a restaurant meal is taxed at another 1.5%. 1% is for the Navy Pier and McCormick Place “McTax” and another .5% is the “Chicago Restaurant Tax” which goes to the City for the right to eat a meal within city limits. So the total tax rate for everything from a McDonald’s cheeseburger to that $1000 meal at a Michelin starred restaurant will run you 11.75%. This is not to mention that the State of Illinois has some of the highest beer, wine and liquor excise taxes in the country (it may actually be the highest,… Read more »
Next they will try to legalize prostitution then beastiality then whatever depravity they can think of that could be taxed. Anything goes in Illinois.
Ain’t much better in the burbs. Had dinner in Bolingbrook last nite and the tax was 11%. I think Lombard is 11% also.
I’ve started bringing a lunch instead of buying lunch in the city. Everyone has raised prices and I can’t pay that tax knowing what it funds. I’m only there three days a week but it’s a big savings.
But Washington doesn’t have an income tax. We get an income tax on top of high sales and property taxes.
I heard on a Pacific Watch session (Jeff Bliss) of the John Bachelor show that Fremont charges $160,000 in municipal fees in connection with the build or refurbishment of an $800k home, bringing the cost of the home to nearly a million! The real estate market in the Bay Area is crazy, so for now, Fremont gets away with it, so to speak. Bliss commented that it shows just how desperate Fremont is for tax revenue, meaning the 10 plus percent sales tax is not sufficient to feed their big government. While I don’t see, let’s say, Oak Park an… Read more »